Orthotown July/August 2020 - 23

by Dr. Neil Warshawsky
Neil Warshawsky, DDS,
MS, PC, is a five-time
graduate of the University
of Illinois. He is an assistant
professor of surgery for
the UIC Craniofacial Center,
where he oversees all cases
in the orthodontic clinic.
In addition, he owns and operates Get It Straight
Orthodontics in the Chicago metropolitan area.
Warshawsky is a key opinion leader for several
companies and helped 3M Oral Healthcare to
design the Clarity aligner system. He has authored
more than 30 articles, written three chapters on
various orthodontic topics and is a member of
several study clubs.

We live in a fast-paced world. When I started my orthodontic practice nearly 30 years ago, I never
would have guessed that direct-to-consumer concepts would have patients bypass my office altogether.
It's becoming painfully clear that patients want faster treatments with fewer office visits. Now with the
coronavirus, fewer visits are a necessity.
I have learned to embrace new technologies and use them to grow my practice. I enjoy practicing in
a "boutique" fashion-albeit on a big-box-store level, because we have multiple offices-and try hard to
give people what they need. This requires stocking more than one type of bracket to address a multitude
of different issues. I changed my approach to practice patient-centric care and try to satisfy what the
patient wants, not just what I think they need.
Some patients are not sure what they want or need. Many patients now walk into our free consults
armed with their smartphones and are quick to pull up a photo of their smile from 20 years ago or the
smile of a favorite celebrity they stalk online and innocently request to have their smile "look like this."
The approach to satisfying this patient will vary based on whether they are Gen Zers (born 1997-present),
millennials (1981-1996), Gen Xers (1965-1980) or baby boomers (1946-1964).
We now base our recommended treatment parameters on five factors: looks, cost, comfort, speed
and lifestyle. Looks cover what your appliance will look like-fixed brackets versus aligners, labial
versus lingual, clear ceramic versus metal. Comfort covers aligners versus fixed brackets, but also covers
low-profile bracket versus a standard profile, or stock brackets versus custom-made appliances. I've found
that patients get to the end of their treatment quicker when using custom appliances.
Several years ago, we started offering speed-specifically, augmented procedures, mechanics or appliances
that help reduce the treatment. Through a combination of custom appliances, custom physiology, fixed
anchorage, mapped trauma, surgically facilitated orthodontic treatment, MOPs, soft-pulse vibration, etc.,
we learned that we could get orthodontic results quicker with no deleterious effects. It was fascinating,
actually, because for the first time, I could dictate how long it would take to complete an entire case.

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Orthotown July/August 2020

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